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The Red-Cockaded Woodpecker May Come Off The Endangered Species List. But Should It?

Published December 3, 2019 at 12:52 PM EST
Wildlife Biologists Tommy Holland holds a captured red-cockaded woodpecker before he tags and release it back to the longleaf pine forest where the endangered birds thrive. (WABE Photo by Stephen B. Morton)
Wildlife Biologists Tommy Holland holds a captured red-cockaded woodpecker before he tags and release it back to the longleaf pine forest where the endangered birds thrive. (WABE Photo by Stephen B. Morton)

The red-cockaded woodpecker has been on the endangered species list for nearly 50 years. Efforts by conservationists have helped the population of the bird rebound and now the federal government is considering downgrading its endangered status.

But as Molly Samuel (@mollyis) of WABE reports, some say that’s a bad idea.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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